1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closeable container and, more specifically, pertains to a multi-compartmented container arrangement which is adapted for the separated stowage and dispensing of a plurality of different kinds of foodstuffs or items which are adapted to be carried in a discretely tiered and compartmented relationship within the container.
Numerous types of containers are currently widely employed in commerce in the form of either single-compartment or multi-compartmented containers possessing sealable closures, particularly for the stowage and conveyance by a consumer of different kinds of food items from retail food outlets or restaurant establishments, especially for the packaging of "take out" orders from the highly popular so-called fast-food establishments. Generally, a closeable container of this nature, which may be of the single-compartment type, is employed for the temporary receipt and conveyance of either hot or cold food items, such as hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and the like, and wherein the food items are frequently dispensed and consumed directly from the container by a retail customer.
More recently, retail food establishments, particularly restaurants engaged in fast-food operations, have developed a highly successful "take-out" food retail sales strategy, in which various separate and combinable ingredients of a particular dish of a food, such as the items employed in making up tacos, burritos, or, for example, ingredients of a fried chicken dinner; i.e. chicken pieces, potatoes, gravy, salad, rolls, condiments and the like may be suitably packaged or placed into closed containers for carrying off the premises of the establishment, enabling the customer, at any desired location, to combine the various food items separately arranged within the container, into the desired food dish in accordance with the customer's taste. Thus, the compartments of a container may each have separately stored therein the applicable ingredients, such as sauces, meats, rolls, vegetables, salads, condiments, and the like of the desired food dish or items, which may then be mixed together and seasoned pursuant to the desires and palate of the customer.
A particularly desirable feature of such a multi-compartmented container resides in the aspect that various of the ingredients of the contemplated food dish or dishes may be stored in respective compartments within the container in a tiered or superimposed manner, pursuant to the inventive concept, so as to enable the various levels of the container contents to maintain the desired hot and/or cold properties or temperatures which are desirable by the customer for the particular type of food items in the container, during conveyance thereof from the food retail establishment or "fast food" restaurant to the home or office of the consumer, or any other suitable location for the consumption of the container contents.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A multi-purpose, multi-compartmented container incorporating a container sealing closure and food storing trays insertable into the container is disclosed in Swett, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,035. In that instance, a lower container portion has at least two compartments formed therein, with upper trays having ovate recesses formed therein for the receipt of eggs being adapted to be inserted into the lower container portion in superimposed relationship with the compartments, and thereafter a sealing closure is adapted to be superimposed on the lower container portion and the trays so as to provided a sealed container arrangement. Although the container is primarily adapted for the storage of eggs or the like, differently configured compartments and trays may conceivably be employed for the receipt of other kinds of comestibles or food items. However, although this patent publication pertains to the basic concept of employing a multi-compartmented container incorporating insertable trays for the receipt of food items, there is no disclosure nor suggestion of a multi-compartmented container arrangement of the inventive type in which a plurality of trays, which may or may not possess individual compartments for receiving different types of food ingredients adapted to be combined, if desired, into a specific dish, which are then inserted into a compartmented container having support structure for maintaining such trays in superimposed or tiered relationship therewithin, and with a container sealing closure being positionable on the assembled container and tray arrangement so as to enable the compartmented food items contained therein to be conveyed to any suitable location by a consumer.